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Analysis: White House Will Find Justice Stevens Tough To Replace

Lecturer Thomas Goldstein is quoted on President Obama's strategy for choosing a nominee for U.S. Supreme Court. Bill Mears of CNN filed this story:

When the nation's capital was turned upside down Friday with the announcement that Justice John Paul Stevens was retiring after 40 years on the federal bench, he was miles away from the political circus -- literally and figuratively.

The 89-year-old justice was quietly working on his caseload at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, condo, a second home that serves as his occasional refuge from the high-pressure atmosphere of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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--How about an articulate academic? Stanford Law School Professors Pamela Karlan and Kathleen Sullivan have earned progressive praise.

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"The president doesn't seem to have the perfect-storm candidate this time that he did with Sonia Sotomayor," said Thomas Goldstein, a top Washington attorney and founder of Scotusblog.com. "There's a delicate balance here. I think he's likely to appoint somebody who's more on the center left, someone like Sonia Sotomayor who the president believes really shares his values as a judge, but doesn't generate the kind of political heat that would disrupt politics over the summer."